Banana Protein Truffles

“All that is gold does not glitter; all those who wander are not lost; the old that is strong does not wither; deep roots are not reached by frost.”

— J. R. R. Tolkien

New recipe of the new year and damn, it’s a winner!

I have been on SUCH a snack kick lately, I think that the holidays got the best of me. While balance is basically how I live my life, the past couple of weeks have been more cookies and chocolate, less veggies and hummus, and that is OKAY! That being said, my skin told me to chill a bit with the heaps of nuts, plantain chips and chocolate oranges as did my exhaustion, so I’m listening to both sides of my cravings with this recipe!

As we all know, chocolate anything is my love language, and add in some nut butter? SOLD! Straying away from the overdone protein balls, I wanted to introduce protein TRUFFLES - sounds so fancy doesn’t it?! The texture in these is much softer and less chalky, there’s no protein powder, no almond or coconut flour, nothing that will make you feel as though you need a gallon of water after each bite. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good protein ball, but, I don’t know, they feel very 2018 to me right now, and I’m trying to bring some excitement to 2021!

Mixing (or mash!) in chickpeas to these was a true game changer!! As we know, chickpeas + tahini = hummus (basically), so why not chickpeas + nut butter?! The same smooth texture, the same nonexistent flavor of chickpeas with whatever nut butter you want, some banana, some spice, some chocolate … HELLO to these soft and decadent snacks/desserts/whenever you want them pillows of YUM! I also realized that these can be baked if you want some melted chocolate in there, they can be rolled in crushed peanuts, in unsweetened coconut (seen below), drizzled with chocolate, the list goes on and on! They take about 10 minutes to whip up, if you don’t have a little babe running around, and they aren’t sickeningly sweet, either. The best of every single world!

Will these be a new staple in my snacking diet? Hell yes. Will they become a (hopeful) favorite of Oliver?! You bet! Simple, slightly sweet, packed with protein and healthy fats, unprocessed, homemade snack truffles - what a mouthful. The new year doesn’t exactly mean that things will be back to “normal” any time soon, but it does bring a sense of freshness, in whatever sense you’d like that to mean for yourself, and for me, it’s the excitement of new recipes, new milestones for O, and new oportunities!

ingredients

Banana—1 medium

Chickpeas—1-15.5 oz can

Nut Butter—3 oz, or 1/3 C

Honey—2.5 oz, or ¼ C

Vanilla—1 tsp

Salt—1 tsp

Cinnamon—1 tsp

Oats—3 oz, or ¾ C

Chocolate Chips—4 oz, or ½ C

Coconut—to coat

process

In a food processor or a large bowl, combine the banana, chickpeas, nut butter, honey, vanilla, cinnamon and salt. Blend/mash together.

Add in the oats and chocolate chips, blend until just mixed, making sure that there are still some full pieces of the oats. Great for texture!

Using a small scoop, or your hands, put the scooped truffles onto a baking sheet lined with either parchment paper or a nonstick mat. If using your hands, the size is up to you, but about 2 tablespoons is great!

Once you have finished scooping the truffles, you have a few options: either roll them in coconut, crushed up nuts, a drizzle of chocolate, or you can bake them at 350˚F for about 12 minutes, just enough for the chocolate to melt!

If you are rolling in coconut, etc., afterwards, place in the fridge or freezer to firm up for about 30-60 minutes before storing them in an airtight container in the fridge!

Bon Appétit!

Salty Crust Peanut Butter Fudge

“I am certain that everything will work out.”

— Rochelle Fox

I’ll come right out and say it: there’s nothing like a good seasonal nut butter to get me even MORE jazzed about the season that we are in! We all know how much I adore the fall season, and how much I am in love with Christmas and all of the magic that surrounds these upcoming months! When Wild Friends’ seasonal butters came out a few weeks ago, I was just filled with so much excitement!

This will be Oliver’s first Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas!! Sure, will an almost 1-year-old fully grasp what’s going on? Most likely not. Will his mom be over the moon excited about the decorating, the baking, the music, the entire vibe (yes, I said it) of the last 3 months of the year? DUH! For the past 8 months, Oliver’s entire life, the world has been weird. We haven’t seen family as much as we’d like, we haven’t been able to go to any of the places around Atlanta that we love to relax, no traveling, nothing that we had planned for Oliver’s first year, but we are rolling with it. With the holidays coming up, that’s one thing I will definitely make sure we do in full force!

That being said, I almost screamed when I saw that Wild Friends was having their seasonal nut butters come out. I am OBSESSED with these flavors—I never knew I needed their Gingerbread or Sugar Cookie peanut butter until a few years ago, and now I stock up! A spoonful of sugar cookie?! Yes, please! And adding it to both the crust AND the fudge was a no brainer. Sugar cookie for the crust, gingerbread for the fudge, damn. I don’t really know where or why or how this recipe came about, I was craving something salty and sweet, honestly!

A pretzel crust has got to be one of my new favorite things, blended with some dates, some honey, nut butter—you’ve got yourself the perfect salty, sweet, crunchy crust. Then a a3-ingredient fudge? YES PLS! I threw in my favorite jam of all time: fig jam that I discovered many years ago at Whole Foods and only purchase when I go there maybe once a year. A creamy, nutty, slightly sweet fudge on top of a crunchy, salty crust, all topped with large flakes of salt—honestly, leave THIS out for Santa this year, my friends!

crust ingredients

Pretzels—2 oz, or 1 C

Peanuts, dry roasted + unsalted—4.75 oz, or 1 C

Dates, pitted—3 oz, or 8

Nut Butter, seasonal Wild Friends—3.75 oz, or 5 TBL

Vanilla Extract—1 tsp

Honey—3 TBL

process

In a blender or food processor, pulse until all ingredients are crushed into pea-sized pieces

When you squeeze a handful of the crust, it should hold together

Press into the bottom of an 8” x 8” pan, freeze

fudge ingredients

Chocolate—12.5 oz, or 2 C

Nut Butter, seasonal Wild Friends—12 oz, or 1 C

Fig Jam—3 TBL

Salt—large pinch

process

In a heatproof bowl or over a double boiler, melt the chocolate

Stir in the peanut butter and jam until homogenous

Pour this mixture over the crust, and even out with an offset spatula

Sprinkle your salt over top—I love a chunky salt for this, but any will do!

Allow to set in freezer for 30 minutes-1 hour until the fudge has firmed

Remove from freezer, cut into squares and store in a sealed container in either the fridge or the freezer!

Bon Appétit!

Banana Pumpkin Oat Bars

“What did you do as a child that created timelessness that made you forget time? There lies the myth to live by.”

— Joseph Campbell

I figure one pumpkin recipe is a must for the start of each fall, so here you go! A [basically] raw dessert that’s packed full of spice, oats, pumpkin and chocolate—how can one go wrong here?! Ya can’t.

I have been seeing this meme a lot lately about how blogs go on and on in the intro about their personal life when all you want is the damn recipe…this hit hard for me because that’s exactly what I do! Anyways…I’ll try to make these intros short and sweet, but I mean, I also love to spill my thoughts here, so you get what you get!

Back to the excitement of these bars! If you haven’t caught on yet, my entire world changed 8 months ago when little O was born! Do I have less time to do things? Sure. Am I always running after him now and making sure he doesn’t eat the dog food? Of course. Do I love every dang second with this guy? Hell yes! Even though my life is quite different now that I have this wild boy, I didn’t want to just STOP baking. I want him to be that kid whose mom makes the best dessert that his friends get excited about coming over for! Duh. But now I need to do things at DOUBLE SPEED. His naps are becoming less and less as he gets older and his ability to just stay in one spot is nonexistent! Which is why I’m about #quickbaking for us parents!

These bars take 5-10 minutes to throw together, or if you have a baby who is trying to eat all of the dirt in your potted plants, it may take you about 20. From there, throw these babies into the oven for about 25 minutes and BAM! you’ve got the gooiest, perfectly sweet lovely little snacks.

Super allergen friendly if that’s something you’re worried about, too! Gluten free, vegan (if you think honey isn’t vegan, sub that for agave or maple syrup!), nut free! They aren’t over-the-top sweet which is my jam these days, they have the PERFECT flavor of pumpkin, of spices, of chocolate—honestly, they blow all other pumpkin desserts and snacks out of the water!

 ingredients

Oats—12 oz, or 4 C

Baking Powder—1 tsp

Cinnamon—2 tsp (heaping)

Nutmeg—1 tsp

Ginger—1 tsp

Cloves—½ tsp

Salt—1 tsp

Pumpkin purée—8.5 oz, or 1 C

Banana, mashed—1 small, or ½ large, about 3.5 oz

Coconut Oil, melted—2.75 oz, or 1/3 C

Honey—4 oz, or 1/3 C

Chocolate Chips—8 oz, or 1 C

process

Preheat your oven to 350˚F

In a large bowl, combine your oats, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and salt

Mix to combine

Mix in the pumpkin purée and mashed banana

Add the melted oil

Fold in the chocolate chips

Put into an 8” x 8” baking pan

Bake for 22-25 minutes, until the center looks set

Allow to cool either at room temperature or in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes

Cut into squares, I did 16 for this batch

Store in a sealed container in the fridge!

Bon Appétit!

Spiced Squash Butter

“Don’t be in such a rush to figure everything out. Embrace the unknown and let your life surprise you.”

Happy Fall, y’all!!

I wonder how many times I have opened up a fall blog post that way! I honestly just get so dang excited. I think a huge part of it is that I LOVE squash. Like, ugh why can’t they be in season all year long?! There are so many varieties and they all have unique tastes, are hella versatile, the list is endless.

Butternut—great for soups, roasted for salads, smoothies, pizza toppings, quiche

Pumpkin—pies, roasted, soups

Spaghetti—sautéed, roasted to use as a noodle replacement

Kabocha (newly discovered!)—roasted for grain and salad bowls, mashed

Acorn—same as above and, now, as SQUASH BUTTER!

Of course, there are so many more that I didn’t mention, gosh like delicata (YUM), the list goes on! So, with fall comes squash, and with squash comes my excitement to experiment with new recipes. I decided to change things up with the normal apple or pumpkin butters that are made during this beautiful season and see if acorn squash would do the trick! And dang, is it GOOD. It’s super simple and quick (ish) to make, and the spices can be adjusted to your liking, which I love about squash in particular. This recipe is heavy on the spices—so beware!! but that’s what makes it soooooo delicious. If you love apple pie and all of its spices, this is like 10x the goodness!

It gets better. I couldn’t just leave it at the squash butter without thinking about what I would slather it on! The warm and wonderful Siete Foods family sent me this lovely package of cassava flour burritos + some other goodies, so I instantly was like “Uhhh this squash butter is going inside of these burritos, DUH!” So, I made this cute little breakfast burrito with eggs + apples + greens + squash butter! And seriously, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it…it’s such a nice blend of flavors, a little sweet and a little savory yet a LOT of yumminess! I cannot wait until you try this combination for the most perfect start to your crisp, fall mornings!

ingredients

Acorn Squash, roasted—14 oz, or 2 C; medium in size

Coconut Sugar—3 oz, or ½ C

Honey—2 TBL

Water—2 oz, or ¼ C

Lemon Juice—2 TBL

Cinnamon—1 TBL

Nutmeg—2 tsp

Cloves—2 tsp

Salt—½ tsp

process

To roast the squash: preheat your oven to 425˚F

Cut squash in half, lengthwise, scoop out the seeds and drizzle a little bit of olive oil on top, sprinkle with salt

Place on a baking sheet skin side down

Roast for 45 minutes-1 hour depending on size

Will know when it is finished as the squash will be soft enough for a knife to go in and come out easily

For butter: once the squash has cooled for about 15-30 minutes, scoop out the flesh and place in a food processor

If needed, you may add a couple of tablespoons of water so that it blends easier

Blend until smooth

Transfer to a medium saucepot and add the remaining ingredients

Cook at a low simmer, stirring frequently, for about 15 minutes

This really allows for the flavors to develop!

Allow to cool before putting into a jar to store in the refrigerator

To use: this is perfect as a dip for fruit, as a dessert topping, spread on a slice of homemade bread, or, my favorite way: on a Siete Foods burrito with eggs, apples and greens!

Bon Appétit!

Fried Sweet Tortilla "Cakes"

“Sticking with uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic - this is the spiritual path.”

— Pema Chödrön

Let me just start with saying that with the oh so incredible yet exhausting life with an ever growing and developing 6-month-old, this dessert couldn’t have popped into my mind at a better time! Oliver is truly the most wonderful, perfect little guy, but dang does he know how to wear mama out!

If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been ALL about those quick nap time desserts. I’m no “30 Minute Meals,” but I can whip up a mean dessert in less than an hour, so this sleepy woman is proud of herself! I would say that these sweet fried tortillas are the quickest thing I’ve ever put together, and also probably the most insanely good. Think cinnamon-toast-crunch-plus-caramel-and-whipped-cream. Sound strange? No? I didn’t think so!

This all started when the beautiful Siete Foods family sent me this unreal little care package, full of their grain free chips, their hot sauces, and these babies: TORTILLAS! Of course, I ripped into everything immediately, devouring quite a bit before taking a step back and deciding that I should actually make something with this besides just shoving it all into my mouth. Honestly, they couldn’t have come at a more perfect time! The past couple of weeks have been tiring, I’ve felt kind of deflated, just in a slump. I would say it has a lot to do with the fact that my husband, son, dog and I have been at home since February, unable to really go anywhere, see anyone, and some days I just feel like we will be here forever!

Of course, I know that’s not true and it’s just quarantine brain getting to me, but these feelings are real, y’all.

When this beautiful box arrived on our doorstep, I could have cried tears of joy! It’s the little things, truly. The Siete family is probably one of the sweetest families I have never met, and they relit my creative spark! Their tortillas, let me tell ya, are out. of. this. world. Cassava flour? Almond Meal? Chickpeas?! Like what the heck!! And they don’t taste like all other weird grain free/GF things. I’m certainly a gluten lover, but I will never turn down something as satisfying as these tortillas! Our freezer is now stocked, thank you very much!!

All of that being said, I didn’t want to take away from their flavor, texture, goodness, but also I wanted to spice them up a bit with just a few little additions. My husband kept saying “just make a tortilla cake!” To that, I had no idea what he meant but then these were born! Fried them up a bit in coconut oil, coated in my all-time childhood favorite of cinnamon + sugar (and some cayenne this time!), then covered in some whipped coconut cream + DF caramel sauce. Huge thank you to Wild Friends Foods for introducing me to their almond cashew butter *drool* Is this a tortilla cake? Maybe? Sure? I guess my husband gave me some inspiration! And is this something you will need to create whenever we can have dinner parties again? ABSOLUTELY!! It’s a little messy, a lot sweet, and one of the best nap-time desserts/snacks out there!

nut butter caramel ingredients

Almond Butter, Wild Friends Foods is my preferred—4.25 oz, or ½ C

Coconut Oil—1.85 oz, or ¼ C

Vanilla Extract—1 tsp

Coconut Sugar—1.5 oz, or ¼ C

Salt—2 tsp

process

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan

Bring to a simmer, and allow to lightly boil for 2-3 minutes

Remove from heat and let cool just slightly before using, it’s hot!

cinnamon sugar ingredients

Cinnamon—1 TBL

Cayenne Pepper—1 tsp

Coconut Sugar—2.25 oz, or ¼ C + 2 TBL

process

Combine altogether in small bowl!

coconut milk whipped cream ingredients

Coconut Milk, full fat—1 can

Vanilla Extract—1 tsp

process

Put your coconut milk in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours in order for the fat to firm up

When you are ready to make the whipped cream, take the coconut milk out of the fridge and spoon out the top, which is the firm fat of the coconut milk

Place this in your mixer and whip on medium-high until it begins to thicken

Slowly drizzle in the vanilla extract

Turn off the mixer when it has become thick and fluffy

frying tortillas

In a small skillet (I love a good cast iron one!), heat a tablespoon of coconut oil

Once melted and shimmering, put in one of your tortilla. Siete Foods tortillas are AMAZING! They are grain free, but don’t use any funky ingredients to substitute that out—instead, it’s foods like almonds, cassava, chickpea, cashew, and chia! The flavor is certainly NOT sacrificed!!

Fry on each side for about 20-30 seconds

Allow excess oil to drip off of the tortilla, then transfer to either a plate or cutting board and sprinkle both sides with the cinnamon sugar mix

Do this with the remaining tortillas! I used 4 for this recipe!

assembly

Take one of your fried and spiced tortillas, place a large dollop of the coco whipped cream on top, drizzle with your caramel, top with another of the tortillas

Continue to do this until you’ve used up all of the fried tortillas!

This is definitely the easiest yet most delicious recipe I have made!! You can add as much or as little of the toppings as you want and makes for such a satisfactory afternoon snack or evening dessert! The toppings keep SO well, so you can make a larger batch of them and just fry up the tortillas “to order!”

Bon Appétit!